


Duty Bound

by Woofemus



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, F/F, Minor Original Character(s), Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 07:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9711917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woofemus/pseuds/Woofemus
Summary: "I'm sorry, you took the wrong princess."AU where the Windriders kidnap Alisha.





	

She came screaming and shouting that someone named Lady Maltran was going to come and rescue her.

Gods, she was _so_ loud and annoying, Rose remembered thinking. She’d been sitting in their base when some of the older Windriders came back hollering that they had something special. It was a secret mission that Brad himself led, which meant _no one_ was privy to any of the details except for the ones on the mission. This request came from the royal family of Rolance, so how could Brad even refuse? But Rose was more than excited to see what their spoils were, and would have _never_ thought that they’d go and come back with an enemy princess.

Her hair was short, just barely reaching her shoulders, but they were _so_ curly that Rose was tempted to run up to her and pull on the strands. Would they curl right back up, or straighten themselves out? And it was more than obvious that she was different than the rest of them, all unmarred pale skin, bright green eyes, clothes that were probably cleaner and more expensive than maybe half of the Windriders themselves. Kind of plain though. She didn’t have any sort of extravagant jewelry (or any, really) like she’d seen from the Rolance nobles who decked themselves, and even their kids, out with.

Still, it made her angry. What gave nobles the right to own more than what they had? What skill did they have to prove that they were _worthy_ of what they owned? She saw how they lived so lavishly while the poor suffered, and the nobles would only laugh and talk about how great the kingdom was, how Maotelus had saw fit to give them their blessing.

To hell with that. They were all corrupt, greedy, evil people, and this tiny girl was no exception, her young mind had decided on.

The princess continued to shout at them until someone put a rope over her mouth. That shut her up real good, and some of the adults laughed at how she still struggled, screaming muffled now. It was only the younger ones though, the one that barely joined or hadn’t even been with them for more than a few years. Rose had caught some of the older ones, the ones that had scars up and down their bodies from all the wars they’d fought in, looking uneasy.

“Nah, the Blue Valkyrie wouldn’t let herself become a babysitter to this princess,” she remembered one of them, an older man with _tons_ of scars on his face and missing half his fingers, muttering as he looked over to his comrades who looked similarly like him. The others slowly murmured their agreements but it did nothing to stop the sudden unease that had spread through them. Brad himself looked unsettled, ordering for extra patrols, just in case.

Now, what were they going to do with the princess herself?

There were some who wanted to chain her up, to stop her from running away. “And she might just end up running away to some other mercenary group, and they’ll get all the credit!”

It was Brad again who decided what they were going to do. “We’re not chaining her up like some kind of animal,” he said, sending a sharp look to the ones that had suggested just that. They were mercenaries who did all the dirty work, but they weren’t going to be uncivilized or unscrupulous like some of the other lawless bands, he always said. “That’s why we’re the ones with the royal family in our pocket, and only us.”

What they were going to do, was _keep_ her in a room, with someone watching over her.

“Rose,” he said cheerfully, clapping a hand on her shoulder, “you’re my favorite kid, you know that right?”

“I’m your _only_ kid,” Rose retorted as she narrowed her eyes.

“You also kind of look like the same age as the princess! How about it?”

And that was how Rose was assigned to babysitting duty.

“Why do _I_ have to do it,” Rose muttered, still angry that she got sent to do something so _boring_. It had to be punishment for that one time she sneaked away onto the battlefield with the others two months ago. Even though she came out mostly unscathed, Brad had yelled at her for hours and didn’t let her out of his sight for a whole week, and even Eguille was angry in that quiet way that made Rose feel more shame and guilt than she’d ever felt in her entire life.

Rose would’ve loved to sneak out of her duty, but the princess was kind of a big deal, and she also didn’t want to disappoint Brad and Eguille again. If the princess got snappy with her though, no one would mind if she just… “accidentally” roughed up her up here and there.

So there she was, sitting in the middle of the room, staring at the princess, who glared at her. The princess had some fire to her, that was nice, not spineless and spoiled like some of the other noble kids she’d seen in Rolance. She bet all her money (which was really like a hundred gald) that if one of those Rolance kids had been taken, they’d be crying and bawling nonstop, terrified out of their wits for their life if they even got a splinter in them.

Rose would enjoy seeing this princess broken down when she realized Father or whatever knight she had as a bodyguard wasn’t going to come save her.

It was _so_ boring sitting around though, doing nothing and having a princess _glare_ at her. A shame really, the princess was kind of pretty, nice looking too, even when the expensive-looking clothes on her started to get dirty. Rose would’ve offered to let her shower but she didn’t like the way the princess huffed at her or didn’t say anything at all when Rose tried to be nice and make conversation. At least the nobles at home condescended talking to others when spoken to. This princess wouldn’t even answer any of Rose’s questions, so she could stay dirty for all Rose cared.

But there were just moments where Rose was just _too_ bored, and she _had_ to say something. The silence seemed suffocating if she didn’t.

“How’s Hyland,” Rose had tried for the tenth time that day.

Nothing.

“… weather’s nice, isn’t it,” she tried again.

Still nothing, but the princess’ eyes went to the window for a split second.

“Favorite color?” Rose joked.

The glare seemed to get stronger. Maybe Rose was onto something here.

“How’s it like living inside a giant manor, all nice and cozy?” she asked, voice full of mocking.

A flinch.

Oh? Rose felt her curiosity spike. Things weren’t quite so rosy at home? Maybe the princess’ father refused to give her something and she was still being huffy about it.

Rose wondered what that felt, like, having a father who could give you everything in the world. Brad was good, but he wasn’t a _king._ Not that Rose cared about that stuff anyway, Brad was more than enough for her.

“I bet you’ve got lots of maids at home, waiting on you hand and foot,” Rose continued, to distract herself from her thoughts. “Must be nice and all, waking up to the good life, no care in the world. No need to work while everything gets done for you, am I right?”

Anger flashed in the princess’ eyes, and Rose fought the urge to grin. It was getting fun, trying to see if she could drag out any sort of other reaction from the princess. “So what do you in that fancy manor of yours? I bet all you do is study and learn, right? You probably get to eat all sorts of meat and fresh vegetables, and then get some dessert too, how great! And I bet your father or mother come to see you at night before you go to sleep, or maybe Father’s busy at the royal palace and you just get _so_ lonely not being able to see him—”

The princess leaped to her feet with fury in her eyes and reached out—

Rose moved on instinct, grabbing the princess’ arm and slamming her to the ground. The princess cried out in pain, struggling but to no avail. The princess was so tiny and she barely had _anything_ on her. She probably never did any sort of hard work in her life! How was _she_ to compare to Rose who lived life on the battlefields?

“Well? Got anything else to try?” Rose asked, bored. “You probably liked bossing people around at home. Yeah, well, you can’t do that here.”

The princess continued to struggle. Rose smirked, easily holding her down with one hand so she could reach behind to grab one of her daggers, placing it down in front of the princess. Immediately, the princess stopped moving, breath hitching as her eyes trained on the dagger. Rose sighed, feeling a pang of disappointment. Of course, all bark and no bite.

“Lady Maltran will be here soon,” the princess spoke as she turned her head back to glare at Rose, her voice deceptively quiet and full of the righteousness that Rose had come to expect from nobles.

What a joke!

“Yeah, well, let’s hope she can survive against the Windriders,” Rose answered back with a cocky grin. The Windriders were the best fighters ever in the whole world, what was _one_ person going to do against a whole team of them? She let the princess go and laughed obnoxiously when the princess scrambled away from her, sitting against the wall now and glaring at Rose again.

Even with such an angry look on her face, she still looked cute. It was a waste that she had to be an enemy princess though.

The princess didn’t even try to talk to her again after that, no matter how much Rose tried. Even when she tried to mock her again about her heritage and home, the princess stayed tight-lipped. Her stubbornness was kind of endearing, but she was so boring now. That was no fun, Rose thought with a sigh. Maybe she shouldn’t have grabbed the princess, but she’d reacted before she realized.

Eventually, two weeks passed, and nothing happened. The Lady Maltran the princess spoke of didn’t appear, nor did any royal couriers of Hyland, not even anyone claiming to be part of Hyland.

 _No one_ came for the princess.

“I knew the princess was all talk. The Blue Valkyrie ain’t gonna come to save some chubby-cheeked kid like you,” the adults began to sneer. “Hey, are you sure we even grabbed a princess? Maybe we just took some kid with nice looking clothes off the street instead.” They roared with laughter, their voices echoing loudly through the window of the room. They were obnoxiously loud, like they wanted the princess to hear everything. Rose didn’t miss the way the princess bit her lip and hid her face into her knees, arms tightening around her legs.

Slowly, bit by bit, the fire began to fade from the princess’ eyes. Good, Rose thought, now the princess would learn to realize that the world didn’t turn on _her_ whims.

“Huh, who would’ve thought that Hyland didn’t want you?” Rose said, grinning at the princess. “How many brothers and sisters do you even have? Must be a lot, to just give you up like this.”

The princess said nothing, as always, but she didn’t glare at Rose like she had always done, hiding her face behind her knees instead. Her body was shaking, and Rose realized what the princess must’ve been doing.

Geez, the princess was _crying._ For the first time since being captured, the princess was _crying._ Rose wanted to make fun of her, but her chest felt tight, and she didn’t want to speak. Now, Rose was the one uncomfortable, trying to pretend she wasn’t hearing the princess trying hard to hide her sobs.

Days after, the princess stopped eating. Or at least, she started to eat less and less. Rose would bring in their plates of food, start wolfing down hers, and when she looked up after finishing, the princess would barely even touch her own plate.

“What, our food’s not good for your dainty self?” Rose tried to tease. She was hoping to rile the princess up because nothing got people doing things than spite and retribution, but the princess only shook her head and pushed the plate toward Rose before hiding back behind her knees again. Even when Rose could hear the princess’ stomach growling with hunger, the princess did nothing. It unnerved Rose, how the princess so easily ignored the hunger inside of her. Had she done this before?

Maybe she really wasn’t a princess.

Rose finished the princess’ share too because food was always bad to waste and she _never_ turned down food when it was offered to her, but it didn’t make her feel very good at all.

“Rose, what the hell are you doing to the princess?” One of the older mercenaries shouted at her one day, catching Rose across the arm and smacking her across the head.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!” She glared up at him, rubbing her head.

“The princess! Just took a look inside and that girl’s all skin and bones! You taking her food all for yourself? Ah, wait, I get it now.” The look in his eyes became sly. “You’re getting a little fatter too, aren’t ya? That’s why Brad likes you the most, how sneaky you are!”

Rose scowled, sticking her tongue out at him. “Geez, it’s not what you think! It’s not my fault the princess is trying to kill herself,” she said under her breath, quickly sneaking into the room. The princess’ eyes only flicked up toward her before returning to the floor. Rose tried not to shudder, and continued her duty as best as she could.

The princess also stopped talking.

Okay, Rose thought. That was okay. It wasn’t like she was even talking at all in the first place anyway.

But this was _different._ Rose got the feeling that the princess didn’t even realize that she was there at all, the way she continued to stare so heavily at the floor. Bricks were probably lighter than the look the princess had on. Not even Rose trying to rile her up had any sort of reaction.

It was like she’d gone and died and left behind her body or something.

Where was that fire the princess had before? Where was all the glaring Rose had grown used to? Where was the _life_ in the princess?

Rose tried to tell herself that it was boring when the princess wasn’t being angry at her, it didn’t scare her at all when the princess looked so dead—

“If you’re going to kill me, you should do it now.”

Rose froze, wondering if she heard right. Maybe after having been defeated, the princess found her bravado again. Wouldn’t have surprised Rose, with that fire she had back then. Was it lit again? She slowly turned around, ready to fight the princess, wound up from so many days of _nothing_.

“Oh?” Rose said, lips quirked upward as she readied herself for a challenge.

The princess slowly looked up at her, their eyes meeting, and all of the spirit drained out of Rose instead. “If you’re going to kill me, you should hurry up and do it now,” the princess repeated with such _certainty_ that Rose took a moment to realize exactly what the princess was saying.

“… what?” Rose narrowed her eyes. “Do you even know what you’re saying?”

The princess blinked at her, once, twice, and then she _smiled_.

Rose felt a chill go down her back.

“If they haven’t come now, then they’ll never come for me,” the princess said, her voice tiny but no less certain. “They never cared in the first place. I… I should have known.” She pushed her knees higher up, hiding her face behind them.

“I’m sorry, you took the wrong princess.”

* * *

Rose didn’t want to be in the room anymore.

Sometimes the princess didn’t move for _hours_ , was just _so_ still that Rose was almost sure she had died on the spot. That was impossible, of course, but Rose didn’t even know what to think anymore. Sometimes, the silence got so bad between them that she swore she could hear the sound of boots from somewhere _in_ the room (but that was impossible, ghosts d-didn’t exist!), but at least that meant Rose could hear the princess breathe, which meant she was _alive._

Was she really though? Rose saw corpses with better eyes than the one the princess had.

Frankly, the princess creeped her out.

“Hey, if no one ever comes for her, what are we gonna do with her?” she asked Eguille one day, tugging on his shirt. He was the only other adult she trusted to ask that wasn’t going to say something like “throw her away for the wolves.”

“… who knows,” he said. “Maybe we’ll just take her in with the Windriders.”

“Eguille!” Rose gasped. She trusted him to give her some kind of serious answer, and there he was. So much for that trust. She was never going to ask him for _anything_ ever again—

“Hah! I’m joking of course.” He smiled and reached down to ruffle her hair. “But if no one really does come for the princess, we might as well just give her to Rolance. We’ll need to get some sort of compensation at least for going through the trouble of kidnapping and watching over her.”

“Compensation, huh?” Rose frowned, uneasy at the thought of just… _handing_ over the princess to Rolance. Would the princess stay as a hostage her entire life?

But if no one had come for the princess, then did she even have any worth?

And why, did the princess already decide that was a perfectly fine way to live?

Rose made up her mind.

She kicked open the door, marching right over to where the princess was, standing tall over her. The princess only flicked her eyes up toward Rose before looking back down on the floor, like she always did. Well, no more of that, Rose was going to make sure of it.

She reached down and took the princess’ hand, dragging her to her feet.

A gasp tore out of the princess, and Rose couldn’t help but grin. It was nicer than she cared to admit, hearing a sound from the princess. “C’mon, we’re going out.”

She walked through camp, ignoring everyone who shouted at her. The princess’ hand tightened around her own, and Rose tugged her closer, not trusting what would happen if she let go. She ignored all the adults who stared at her like she’d gone out of her mind.

Maybe she did, but Rose didn’t care about any of that.

They marched all the way to the mess hall, where food was already cooking. The moment the smell of all the food hit her nose, Rose felt her mouth watering, and she had to wipe the drool away with her sleeve before the princess saw. Tugging the princess along, they went right into the kitchen. Rosh was the only inside at the moment, stuck on kitchen duty today. He looked up when they entered, narrowing his eyes at Rose, but then he caught sight of the princess and snapped upright, gaping.

“Rose! A-and, uh, Y-Your Highness!” He whirled to Rose, panic in his eyes. “Rose! What do you think you’re doing, bringing the princess all the way out here?!” Rose ignored his protests too, waving him away. He’d always been too serious for her.

“Just getting some food for her royal highness here,” Rose said, digging through the shelves. “Eguille’ll never let it go if I let a princess starve on my watch, so I figure she might be willing to put something in her stomach if she gets a whiff of all the food around here—”

“What? The princess hasn’t been eating?” And everyone froze at the sound of a third voice joining them. Rose paled as she looked up at the person standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a tall and imposing woman who had muscles that were probably bigger than Rose’s head. Chef, Rose called her, because she could never pronounce her name right no matter how hard she tried.

Chef looked down at the princess with her unscarred eye, who shrank back and tried to hide behind Rose. Without another word, she walked away, gathering up a bowl and heading over to a giant pot held over a fire. She opened the lid and instantly, the full aroma of the stew that’d been cooking for hours filled the air. Rose felt her mouth watering again, and tried not to snicker when she caught Rosh hastily wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

Chef came back with a steaming hot bowl of soup and bent down, handing it over to the princess. “Here,” she said in that gruff voice of hers, “even picked out all the nice meat. Good enough for you, princess?” Her tone were harsh and speech too vulgar for someone like the princess, but they weren’t unkind. She continued to hold the bowl even as the princess hesitantly stared at it and over at Rose, who only gestured her to take it. She looked back at the woman and slowly nodded.

“T-thank you,” she mumbled, taking the bowl. Rose could notice the exact moment the whiff of fresh, hot soup hit the princess because her eyes widened and her stomach let out the biggest growl Rose had ever heard from _anyone,_ which was a very big deal because everyone was a slob in a group of mercenaries. “O-oh! Excuse me!” the princess ducked her head, cheeks going so red that Rose swore they were red like her hair. Oh, Rose thought as she blinked at the princess, that was kind of cute.

But she quickly grew impatient. “Hurry up and eat it,” she whined, “or else _I’m_ going to.”

Both Chef and Rosh sent her a look that she pointedly ignored.

Alisha quickly nodded and, taking the spoon offered to her, took a sip.

“… delicious,” the princess whispered, full of awe and wonder, like she discovered some sort of lost treasure. Everyone could see the sheer joy on her face, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “It’s… it’s delicious! I…” The princess took a whole spoonful into her mouth and Rose widened her eyes—

“H-hot!” the princess cried out. Rose rushed forward, taking the bowl from the princess’ hands as the princess turned her head up and tried to fan her mouth with her hands. She looked so silly that Rose laughed, tears gathering in her eyes. Who would’ve thought a _princess_ would go and act like a huge goofball?

“You should be a little more careful, Princess,” Rose teased once the princess swallowed down her food. The princess glowered at her before taking the bowl back, mumbling a terse “thank you” to Rose and returning to her eating.

When the princess finished everything, even down to the last drop, there were tears in her eyes as she looked up at Chef and thanked her over and over again for the delicious meal.

“Finally, someone here that appreciates my cooking,” Chef muttered as she turned away, but Rose caught the twinkle in her eye.

“Anyway…” Rose quickly grabbed the princess’ hand, dashing for the exit. “We gotta go now!”

Right on time just as they ran out, an incensed Eguille burst into the kitchen. “Rose! I know you have the princess—she ran away already?!”

Rose brought the princess back to the room but before she could scramble off to hide elsewhere, Eguille was already there at the doorway, blocking off her escape. Rose paled, and whipped her head toward her last hope, the window.

“Eguille, go easy on her just this once, will you?” Brad’s voice rang out behind Eguille. Rose stopped all of her plans of fleeing and immediately brightened, grinning. She missed Alisha blinking curiously at her as she waited for her savior to appear in the doorway. Footsteps boomed closer and seconds later, Brad appeared, patting Eguille on the shoulder. “Rose, looks like you’re doing good with the princess.”

“Of course!” Rose puffed out her tiny chest with pride.

“Brad,” Eguille started, disapproval in his tone, “having the princess outside in plain sight is dangerous, we could be—”

“Yeah, but, it’s kind of sad having her locked up all the time, isn’t it?” Brad interrupted, a rare frown coming onto his face. “It’s already been a few months and no one’s come for the girl! At this rate, we really might need to make her part of the Windriders.”

Everyone, including Rose, gaped at him, and he laughed. “I’m just kidding, I’ve already got one handful of a kid—” Rose narrowed her eyes “—and can you imagine having a _princess_ for a mercenary?” He walked over to them and bent down, looking the princess in the eyes. He smiled, apologetic. “No hard feelings, we just wanted to stop all the fighting between our kingdoms. If nothing happens in another month, we’ll return you back to Hyland. Sound good?”

“One… one month?” the princess said, hesitant. “Um, can… can I ask what’s going on with Hyland?”

Brad narrowed his eyes, and both Rose and the princess shrank back from his intense look. He stared at them for another second before barking with laughter, shrugging his shoulders. “Beats me! Who knows what even Rolance is up to at this point? I just follow orders, Princess, that’s all. But Hyland hasn’t attacked us, and since we’re holding you, we haven’t done anything either. So the fighting’s stopped for now.”

“There’s… the fighting’s stopped?”

“I suppose you can say that. We’re still on the verge of war, but seems like both kingdoms got their own matters to worry about at the moment. Maybe they’re getting together some kind of secret band of heroic knights to go save their princess.”

“Ah…” The princess looked down at the floor, slowly shaking her head. “I… I don’t think so.”

Brad didn’t said anything but he reached out instead, ruffling all the curls on the princess’ pretty little head. Rose widened her eyes, hands itching to do the same exact thing. She’d been trying to hold back the urge for the longest time, and now Brad had gone and done it just like that! She was so jealous.

“Don’t wear her out too much, Rose,” Brad only said before leaving. Eguille let out a sigh that seemed longer than his usual ones but he left her alone afterward.

“One month,” the princess whispered after the adults left.

“One more month and you’ll get to go back home to your fancy castle. Isn’t that nice?” Rose said.

“The… the castle?” The princess blinked at her confusedly before shaking her head. “Oh… I don’t live in the castle. I live in my father’s manor.”

“Eh, same thing, isn’t it?” Rose waved her hand. “Everything’s all huge. You’ve living much nicer than us.”

“I… I guess,” the princess mumbled, looking down at the floor. “But I don’t think I’m allowed to live in the castle anyway.”

 _That_ surprised Rose. “Huh? What the heck are you talking about? Aren’t you a princess? Don’t princesses live in the castle?”

“Um… I am, but I don’t think they would allow me.” The princess brought her knees up, leaning her head against them. “My mother was a commoner so everyone… everyone hated me. I don’t belong with the royalty, or the nobles. I… I don’t belong anywhere. That’s why no one cares about me.” The princess’ next words were so quiet that Rose almost hadn’t caught them. “And… it looks like Lady Maltran didn’t care for me at all either.”

“What about your parents?” Rose asked. The princess shook her head before she ducked, hiding her face from view.

“They’re not here anymore. They died.”

… oh. A sharp pang shot through Rose as she remembered _everything_ she said about the princess’ parents. She wanted to apologize but she couldn’t open her mouth. It was supposed to be easy, apologize for everything she said, but her mouth felt glued together. If the princess had told her anything about it, she would’ve stopped! But the princess didn’t and… and…

Rose couldn’t find the courage to say what she wanted to, and the heavy silence continued to hang in the air between them.

How strange, for Rose to feel such pity for the princess.

* * *

The princess stopped glaring at Rose all the time. She still had the habit of turning her eyes to the floor though. When Rose called out to her, she raised her head and met her eyes though she was still withdrawn, reserved.

So, some kind of shy little thing then. That was okay.

Rose stopped mocking her. It left a bad taste in her mouth when she thought about it. The princess was still a princess, able to live in luxury and lavishes that others would never even see in her life, but she was kind of different. Not like all those snobby little brats who liked showing off the wealth that wasn’t even theirs. The Hyland Princess was… okay. If only the royals in Rolance were like her.

Wait, no, all royals were terrible, Rose remembered she was supposed to think.

But this princess from Hyland…

“So, how’s your kingdom?” Rose decided to ask, bored out of her mind again. Maybe she’d actually get an answer this time, since the princess didn’t seem keen on glaring at her anymore.

“Hyland?” The princess thought for a bit. “It’s… it’s beautiful. We’re built right on top a lake so we have water going through the city, along the roads.”

“No way!” Rose was in disbelief. How did that work? Pendrago, or even Lastonbell, didn’t have anything like _that_.

“Well, we’re called the Aquapolis for a reason…”

“What’s that mean?”

“Like… water city?” The princess put a hand on her chin. “Um… I believe they come from two different languages, but I can’t remember which ones. I read about it in a book, I know _polis_ comes from a language in the era of—”

The princess trailed off when she realized Rose was staring at her with a flat look. “H-huh? What’s wrong?”

“You don’t have to explain _everything_ ,” Rose muttered. The princess blinked at her before shrinking back, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

“O-oh! I’m sorry,” the princess mumbled, immediately looking back down at the floor. She twisted her hands in her lap, nervous, like she was afraid to speak out again. Rose tried to talk to her again but the princess seemed so afraid, so suddenly unsure of herself.

Rose frowned, feeling like she wanted to tear her hair out. The princess was so skittish! She needed something to entice the princess out of her shell. Yes, Rose decided with a nod, she was going to make this princess talk to her if it was the last thing she’d do. Now if only she could figure out how to accomplish that.

Her solution came just a few days later.

“Whoa there, little missy!” A hand grabbed the back of Rose’s shirt as she was rushing through the camp, and yanked back. Rose yelped, flailing her arms all around to hit whoever was holding her up. How dare they?!

Until she finally recognized that voice, stopping her flailing so she could turn around with a grin. “Oh! Mayvin!”

“You’re sure in a rush today,” he said with a laugh that sounded bigger than his whole body. “Heard you’ve got some kind of princess here.”

“Huh? Who’d you hear that from?” Rose frowned, not sure if it was okay for Mayvin to know about the plans of the Windriders. He helped them out, sure, but he wasn’t actually _part_ of the Windriders, so he didn’t _need_ to know what they were doing…

Mayvin didn’t answer her question but he set her down, reaching into his pack. Rose immediately brightened, fingers wiggling as she waited for what sort of treasure he’d show her.

“Haha! Here, how about you give her this, maybe she’ll read it to you.” He took out a book and stuffed it in her hands. All the hopefulness in Rose transformed into utter disappointment, and she looked up at him angrily.

“Hey, this isn’t any treasure! Why’d you give me some dusty old book?!” She held it out to him, trying to give it back. “Talfryn might like it more, you can give it to him.”

“He’s got a copy from me already,” Mayvin said with a laugh, twirling his mustache. “It’s an interesting book! You should take care to learn about the history of the world, little missy.”

“Ugh.” Rose made a face, but Mayvin was already strolling off, most likely to show his spoils to Brad. She looked back down at the book, frowning deeply at it before walking back to the princess’ room. Maybe she could use it as a doorstopper or something, it felt heavy enough.

When she came into the room, the princess looked up from where she was sitting, where the sun was shining through the window. Rose stopped in her tracks.

Basking in the sun? What was she, some kind of flower?

But she looked pretty like that, with the sun shimmering through her hair. The light made her glow, made Rose think of… of… what was the word again?

Oh, angels! That was what the older mercenaries called them, after their visit from the taverns and they talked about the nice-looking girl inside, describing exactly the way Rose thought (she never understood why Eguille and Brad always knocked their heads and told them not to talk that way in front of her though.)

Ah, what was she even thinking about?! This was a princess, and not just _any_ princess, but an enemy one too!

Rose shook her head, scowling at the warmth she could feel on her cheeks. How embarrassing.

The princess still hadn’t said anything since Rose came in, and when she looked at her, she soon realized why.

“Hm? You want this?” Rose raised her hand, the one that held the book. The princess’ eyes followed its every movement before snapping over to Rose’s.

“A-ah! I mean… huh? You don’t want it?” the princess asked.

“Princess, does it look like I read books?” Rose scoffed. “Well, I was gonna give it to Brad so he could use it as a paperweight, but it might be better use in your hands. So…” Rose tossed the book at her, grinning when the princess yelped and dove out of the way. The book landed on the floor with a loud thud and the princess immediately picked it up, cradling the book like it was some precious treasure in her hands, and glared at Rose.

“H-hey! Don’t treat it like that!”

Rose shrugged as she sat down in front of the princess. It was just a silly book, and Mayvin could probably get another one if she asked. She didn’t know why the princess was making some sort of big fuss about it. The princess rolled her eyes but looked back down at the book, her eyes sparkling now.

“This is the Celestial Record!” she said, opening and flipping through the pages with so much eagerness. She kept going through until she finally stopped, her finger pointed downward on a page. Rose leaned over, staring at what the princess was looking at even if she was upside down from the book.

Underneath the princess’ finger was a picture that took up both pages of the book. It looked like a giant city, surrounded by water on all sides. From what Rose could see, it looked like the only way to get inside was through the impressively long bridge that led to what to be the front gates. The way the picture was drawn, she had the feeling that if a book could have three pages at once, the bridge would have still extended beyond it. The outside walls looked huge though Rose thought maybe Pendrago’s walls looked bigger. There were another set of walls higher up than the ones on the outside, and another, giving the image that they were going higher up. Well, if it looked like they lived on an island, the only other way for them was to go up.

“This is Ladylake!” the princess said, her voice hushed with excitement. “I couldn’t show you last time but here’s a picture!”

“Isn’t that where you’re from?” Rose squinted at it some more. She wondered what it was like, living on top of a lake. It must’ve felt cool during the summer, with all that water on all sides. Maybe people threw themselves over the walls when they got hot. Were there fish in the lake? Rose’s mouth began to water at the thought of being able to grab any old fish out of the lake. That was a good life—

“Yes,” the princess said, interrupting Rose’s thoughts. She moved her finger, pointing to a giant wheel near the front. “This is the famous waterwheel of Ladylake. It’s beautiful and… you just have to see it if you ever come visit.”

“Is it?” Rose scratched her head. What was so special about a waterway?

“Of course!” Alisha turned the page, and there was another picture, only taking up one page now. It was a sword in a pedestal right in the middle of a building, maybe some kind of church. Did Ladylake had something like the Shrinechurch too? She’d have to ask Brad or Eguille about it one day.

The sword looked kind of fancy too, nothing practical about it. Egulle would’ve probably liked it, he had a collection of swords. But the princess, her finger traced its shape out, and she looked up at Rose, eyes twinkling with enthusiasm.

“This is the sanctuary back home, where the Sacred Blade rests. Legend has it that whoever can pull the sword out can become the Shepherd!”

“Shepherd?” Rose blinked.

“Uh huh,” the princess nodded eagerly. “The Shepherd, the one who see the seraphim and use their power. ‘In times of darkness, they appear from the heavens and reclaim the light,’” she recited solemnly.

“Huh…” Rose had heard the phrase countless times, spoken by the more devout members at the Shrinechurch, the ones that _weren’t_ lining their own pockets with donations. Something like that, frankly speaking, sounded too good to be true, she often thought.

Nothing in this world was ever freely given, she learned at a young age.

“The Shepherd, and the seraphim!” the princess spoke at that moment. Rose blinked back to reality, and found the princess eagerly going through the pages again. When the princess continuing reading through the pages without even looking up, Rose was beginning to think that the princess even forgot she was there.

Rose frowned, displeased at being forgotten so quickly.

“So, you believe in the seraphim, Princess?” she asked.

“Of course!”

The answer came so sudden that Rose was taken aback, and now the princess was staring at her, fire in her eyes. Oh no, Rose realized, she recognized that look. Eguille often had it when someone asked him about his stupid sword collection—

“The seraphim are all around us!” the princess said, with complete assurance. “I’m sure of it! We need to pray to them and give our thanks to—”

“So have you ever seen one?” Rose quickly interrupted, not interested in listening to someone blather off about the seraphim and divinity when she’d already listened to everything from the Shrinechurch.

It was all fake anyway.

The princess opened her mouth before she hesitated, casting her eyes to the floor. “No…” she admitted in a tiny voice.

“See! They don’t exist!”

“They exist! Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t! Like ghosts!”

Rose immediately clamped her hands over her ears, shaking her head furiously. “D-d-d-don’t talk about ghosts! T-that’s completely different!”

“Are…” the princess tilted her head, curious. “Are you afraid of ghosts?” A smile came onto her face, a look that Rose knew would mean trouble for her.

“N-no!”

“You are! You can believe in ghosts but not seraphim?!”

“I-I-I-I don’t believe in ghosts! Trust me!”

“You’re scared! I can’t believe it!”

“Argh!”

By the wide smile on her face, Rose realized the princess wasn’t going to let up. There was only one thing left for her to do, and that was to be an adult and take a gamble instead. As fast as she could, she shot her hands out toward the princess, pressing against her sides. The princess immediately crumpled over with laughter, and Rose knew she’d discovered her greatest weapon yet, as her fingers tickled up and down.

“S-s-st—” the princess gasped as she tried to swat away Rose’s hands, rolling over to protect her sides, but it was all to no avail. Rose was a merciless hunter once she had the advantage and this was no exception, as her hands stayed glued to the princess’ sides.

Easy! This was a piece of cake—

Pain erupted from her middle and Rose keeled over on the floor, wheezing as she held the spot where an elbow dug into her gut.

“Stop it—huh? Oh! I’m so sorry, did I hit you there?!” The princess’ hand was on her back now, trying to push her upright. Rose waved her away, laughing weakly.

“Uh, y-yeah, let’s… let’s just say we’re even now,” Rose managed to get out, still groaning with pain.

The princess looked torn but she slowly nodded. A pout came over her face though, staring at Rose with that sort of scolding expression Felice liked to have when she caught Rose using her things without her permission. “J-just don’t tickle me again!”

“I’ll just watch myself better next time,” Rose muttered.

“What was that?”

“G-got it.”

The rest of the afternoon, and many ones after that, were lost to the princess reading the Celestial Record and telling her about every single story possible. Ancient Asgardians (the princess was _very_ adamant that Rose pronounced their name right, ugh), all the giant ruins (Rose gave up on trying to learn _those_ names, they all sounded like gibberish after a while) on the continent, the names of the most famous Shepherds and seraphim (some people just weren’t allowed to have names ever again, Rose decided), _everything_ from the darned book.

The princess kept talking, and _talking._ Any moment of silence was the princess reading the story so she could explain it to Rose, or mealtimes. And even then, Rose had to remind the princess that the book wasn’t going anywhere and she needed to eat her meal _before_ it got cold, or else Rose would.  _That_ threat would work and the princess would finally put the book down, slowly, like she didn’t want to be torn away from her precious friend, and ate in sullen silence, like it was Rose’s fault for making her hungry. Rose lost track of the number of times she rolled her eyes.

But it kind of unnerved Rose too, how that one single book suddenly had the princess doing a whole lot of talking more than she’d ever done in her entire time here.

“You sure do like that book. Don’t you get tired of reading the same thing all the time?” Rose asked one night, after they were both full and warm from dinner. The first thing the princess had done was dive for the book as soon as she stuffed the last bite into her mouth. When Rose took away their bowls back to the mess hall, the princess was leaning against the wall, the open book in her lap, candle by her side.

“How do you even stand it?” Rose didn’t understand, she was _sure_ the princess had gone through the book at least more ten times since getting the book. Rose could barely even look at it without feeling sleepy.

The princess glanced at her before lowering the book to her lap. The expression on her face was sad, her fingers brushing against the pages. “I… don’t have any friends at home, or anyone my age. I may be a princess but my mother was still a commoner. No one wants to associate with someone whose blood is impure. A-and… L-Lady Maltran always told me to be careful, not everyone who’s nice wants to be my friend.” Rose nodded at that. She’d seen how frustrated Brad could be after dealing with the royal family.

The princess continued, “So I turned to the books to be my friends. My father loved Marlind—ah, it’s another city in Hyland, with lots of books, scholars, libraries, everything! I would love to go there sometime. Oh, but we also have a giant collection of books in the manor, so…” she trailed off meaningfully, and it didn’t take much for Rose to put two and two together.

Rose didn’t say anything more, leaning back against the wall they were both sitting against. The night was already late, with the moon shining through the window, the candle that’d been burning strong for most of the night nearly gone. She’d have to get more, maybe tomorrow.

The princess still thumbed through the pages but she didn’t speak anymore either. Rose had the feeling that she wasn’t even paying attention anymore, her hands and fingers working on instinct and familiar habits. How many times had the princess done this, reading herself to sleep? How terrible was the princess treated, to have no choice but to escape into the world inside books, away from terrible humans?

Rose looked at the princess, saw both the affection she had for the books and the loneliness hiding away underneath. She had everything Rose didn’t, but she looked so sad, so lonely, even with all of it. She didn’t have any family anymore, and now she was all alone. Rose didn’t doubt that if the princess could, she’d trade away all her wealth and power if it meant her parents could be alive again.

Rose risked her life for work but there was always someone to come home to, people who protected her back when they were out for a job. It was hard sometimes, when some people weren’t lucky and they’d come back with fewer than they’d left with. But the Windriders were everything she knew, the only family she knew, and she wouldn’t have given it up for anything in the world.

They… were kind of opposites, Rose was starting to think.

“Um…”

Rose blinked, realizing the princess was speaking again. She tilted her head in acknowledgement, glancing over at the girl next to her.

“Can… can I ask how Pendrago is?” the princess asked, voice quiet. Her fingers flipped through the pages of the book until they got to the picture of Pendrago, with its giant castle walls. “It’s the biggest city on the continent but I want to learn more about it.”

“Yeah? Well, I can tell you I wasn’t part of royalty,” Rose said in a dry voice. “Unless I went out and got married right now. Think I could snag some rich royal to marry me?”

The princess gaped at her, looking appalled at the suggestion. Maybe that sort of joke was too vulgar for the princess? Rose didn’t know what was proper or not when it came to royalty.

“Marriage is… that’s…” the princess blushed, and now Rose understood. She grinned, reaching out to poke the princess the cheek.

“What, already thinking about going out to get married? Are you the type of person that thinks about their wedding? ‘Ooh, what type of flowers should I have, what kind of dress should I wear, do I want it outside or inside?’ Oh, I bet you even think about _who_ you’re going to marry too!”

“N-no!” The princess gasped but Rose knew she hit the nail on the head when the princess’ cheeks darkened even more. “It’s… it’s just… u-um… m-marriage is… it’s a sacred ceremony between two people who love each other. I don’t think you should talk so lightly of it.”

Rose pushed her lips together, managed to hold back for one more second before bursting out in laughter.

“H-huh?! What’s so funny?!”

“You’re so innocent,” Rose gasped out before laughing again, holding her sides.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I-I just think that marriage is… i-it’s…” The princess looked away, hiding her face behind her knees as she pouted.

“No, it’s kind of cute,” Rose said, grinning. “Well, I hope you find someone you wanna marry, since...” she trailed off, catching herself in time. The princess was, well, _the princess_ , and it was more than likely that she’d be married off.

“C-cute?” The princess blinked at her before she looked away. For some reason, she looked like she had a blush on her face though Rose didn’t know exactly why. “I… I-I mean, I… I hope so too,” the princess mumbled afterward, her voice both sad and hopeful, and Rose knew the princess understood too.

Rose hated how easily the princess accepted it, but it wasn’t her place to say.

“Well, uh,” Rose started as she scratched the back of her head, “we kind of got far from what we were talking about. You said you wanted to learn about Pendrago? I can’t tell you about the castle or anything, but I can tell you about the town. Sound good?”

The princess looked up her, excitement in her eyes as she nodded. Rose grinned. Now that was better.

Now it was Rose’s turn to talk. She told the princess about the people living inside, of the nice old lady who gave Rose extra scraps for dinner whenever she stopped by. She told the princess about the taverns that some of the older Windriders had taken her to when they didn’t want to bring her back to camp, how the pretty barmaids fawned over Rose when she smiled at them and said that she complimented them better than any of the men there. Pendrago had no waterwheel like Ladylake but there was a water fountain inside that sometimes sputtered before splashing out and making a mess all over the square and no one still could figure out why that happened. And dragostew, how could Rose leave out something so delicious?

The princess listened to everything. Even when the candle burned out and all they had was the moon shining through the window, Rose kept talking, knowing the princess was still trying to listen intently. It was only until she started on the Platinum Knights that she finally stopped.

“Uh, I heard there were twin brothers last time I was there. _All_ the ladies talk about them all the time, how they look so handsome and dashing. I kind of don’t see it, they look like bears when I—”

Something fell against her shoulder, and Rose realized it was the princess, already asleep. Oh. She wondered how long the princess had been asleep. The blankets were too far away for Rose to grab from where she was but the night was thankfully warm. Rose glanced over at the book at their feet, still open on the page of Pendrago. Trying hard not to wake up the princess, Rose did her best to nudge the book closer with her legs until she could finally reach it with her hand and tug it close to where she could flip through the pages with ease.

With only the moon to guide her, Rose squinted her eyes through the darkness, turning the pages until she came to what she wanted to see, tracing over the image of the waterwheel on the page.

“Ladylake sounds like a nice place to visit,” she mumbled to herself, glancing at the slumbering princess on her shoulder before finally closing her eyes.

* * *

There came a day where Rose had _enough_.

She glanced up from where she was on the floor, facedown. Next to the princess were a pile of books, Talfryn’s old ones that he’d already poured over and generously loaned to the princess, along with some from Brad and whatever he managed to pick up from… wherever he got them. Rose didn’t care about books so she never bothered to learn where exactly he was getting them.

The princess read through _every single one_ in that pile.

And still, the book the princess came back to was that Celestial Record thing, the first book of her growing collection.

“All you’ve been doing is reading books! Don’t you do anything else?” Rose whined, kicking her feet against the floor. Ugh, the princess was so _boring_!

“Um… I thought I wasn’t supposed to go outside?” the princess answered, not even sparing a glance up at her.

Rose stopped her kicking, narrowing her eyes as she glowered at the floor. _Right_. She forgot about that.

Well, now she was going to forget that she remembered that.

An idea came to Rose and she jumped to her feet. “Let’s go outside then!”

“H-huh?!” The princess’s mouth hung open in surprise, and she shuffled away from Rose, who crept closer, fingers waggling. “W-w-what are you talking about? I-I thought I was supposed to stay in here, w-won’t you get in trouble—ah!”

The princess closed her eyes as Rose pounced forward, landing in front of the princess. She looked down at the pile of books—hah! She snatched up her target and dashed for the door, waving the book in her hands. The princess opened her eyes when she realized Rose had left. Her mouth dropped again, but for a different reason now.

“Y-you took the Celestial Record!” The princess jumped to her feet, hands balled into fists. “What are you doing!?”

“Getting you out of this stuffy room,” Rose called out as she nudged open the door with her foot. “C’mon, Princess, it’s a nice day outside, don’t you wanna read out on the grass instead of in here?”

The princess paused, staring at Rose as she thought it over. “That… that does sound nice,” she finally admitted, voice quiet. Rose grinned. Victory!

“Then, come with me outside!” she urged, stepping backward toward the door—

But the princess shook her head. “B-but we’re not supposed to go outside!”

Rose stopped her movement. She sighed loudly, scratching the top of her head. “You really don’t want to go outside? What are you so caught up on the rules for? I mean, you’re a captive here, what’s the worst that could happen _now_?”

Rose regretted the words the moment they left her mouth, especially when the princess flinched away.

They tried not to talk much about the whole situation. The books had thankfully distracted the both of them, with the princess pouring through all of them from morning to night, whenever she was awake. She’d bring a new book and by a day or two, the princess would already be done with it. She knew now that it _hadn’t_ been an exaggeration when the princess called books her best friends.

But no matter what the princess did, no matter how nicely Rose and the others treated her, it didn’t change that she’d been taken as a hostage. That she’d been here for months already, showed exactly how much her kingdom cared for her.

Rose closed her eyes, wracking her mind for something to do, something to say. She had a habit of saying things on her mind, but she’d never been around someone like the princess who felt so heavily for things the way she did. What was the word… oh, sensitive. The princess was sensitive, and though Rose hated tiptoeing around things, she still felt bad for bringing up certain topics.

Argh! The more she stood around and thought about what to do, the more awkward the whole situation would get. Rose was going to take the princess outside, and nothing was going to stop her, not even her own self messing things up.

She snapped open her eyes and marched over to the princess, grabbing her hand. The princess looked up, eyes wide. Rose, more than determined now, tugged the princess forward, pulling her outside. “A-ah! What are you doing, n-not again—ah!”

Ignoring the protests behind her, Rose took the princess outside. At least, she tried to, but her arm suddenly jerked back. Rose immediately turned back around, and found the princess was holding onto the doorway, digging her heels into the floor.

“Are you serious?!” Rose tugged again but the princess shook her head, just as stubborn as Rose. Oh, now the princess was asking for it. Her mind raced for an answer—oh! Okay then, maybe this could work.

Rose let go of the princess’ hand and marched right over to her instead. The princess squeaked in surprise but watched Rose warily. Not that it mattered much to Rose, as she bent down and knocked the princess off her feet and into her arms.

The princess couldn’t resist if she couldn’t do _anything_! This was one of the best plans Rose ever had! Grinning triumphantly, Rose looked down at the princess just as she looked up at her.

The princess’ eyes were wide, staring at Rose in surprise. Green was a nice color, Rose thought, matching with the princess’ pale skin and her light blonde hair, still so _curly_. A shaky breath left the princess’ lips and Rose’s eyes immediately moved down to them. They looked soft, delicate, like her whole body as Rose held her— _of course_ , Rose thought, she was a princess.

Everything was supposed to look pretty on a princess.

The princess blinked up at her, batting those pretty long lashes too. Red began to come onto her cheeks, and the princess hurriedly glanced away, shy now. Rose felt her breath catching in the back of her throat, her own mouth feeling dry. Her chest felt tight, her heart pounding so loudly that she swore the princess could hear it too.

What… what was this? She wanted to run, away from the princess, but her feet stayed rooted to the floor.

There was a loud shout outside, and Rose shook herself out of whatever had taken ahold of her. She tore her gaze away, and realized the downsides of having her hands occupied, her hands itching to scratch the back of her head in sheer embarrassment.

What was she doing again—outside! Outside, her mind repeated, over and over again, she was supposed to go outside with the princess. Outside, with the princess, she reminded herself, and moved to do just that, walking stiffly.

Rose didn’t bring them very far, just outside of the room, to where a nearby tree was. As quickly but carefully as she could, Rose set the princess down, trying hard not to think about how soft and light she was. Even with the book in one of her hands, it hadn’t been very hard for Rose to lift and carry her at all.

The princess glanced her before shyly looking away, seemingly nervous about something that Rose was sure was different from her type of nervous. “E-er, what is it?” Rose asked though it was more like a mumble really, still trying hard to recompose herself.

The princess’ eyes flickered up to her again before looking down at the floor, answering back with her own mumble. “I… I didn’t want you to get in trouble again.”

… huh? Rose blinked, wondering if she heard that right, but the princess seemed oddly serious and guilty. Seriously? _That_ was what the princess was so worried about?

Rose could feel her heart drumming even more but instead of the earlier anxiousness, she laughed instead, grinning widely. “You were worrying about something like _that?_ It’s fine! No worries! Brad’s real cool with it! If he wasn’t, he’d tell me not to do it again.”

“B-but, what about the… the, um, other man?”

“Eguille?” Rose waved her hand in dismissal. “Nah, he’s okay too. He’s not really _that_ mad. I just don’t like listening to him so he gets mad at that instead.”

“Oh…” The princess let out a sigh, shoulders sagging slightly. “if… if you say so then.”

“Of course!” Rose winked at her, and the princess’ skeptical look returned.

“I… I still feel like we shouldn’t be out here,” the princess mumbled, glancing all over the place, like she was afraid of getting caught. Rose still didn’t know what the big deal was. They were just outside, and she’d been here for months already that most of the Windriders were already bored of the novelty of having a princess in the camp.

“You just relax that pretty little head of yours, Princess,” Rose said, grinning at her. “But if you’re _really_ afraid, we can do this instead…” After giving a cursory scan to the tree, Rose waited for just one moment, preparing herself, and leaped up.

“H-huh!? W-what are you doing?!” The princess shouted after her but Rose ignored it, climbing higher until she reached the first branch. She sat down on it, her legs dangling in the air, grinning down at the princess.

“Have you climbed trees before, Princess?” Rose called out, waving her hand.

“I, um, twice—“

“Good! Then climb up here!”

“What?!”

Rose snickered at the look on the princess. Anyone would’ve thought she asked the princess to do something impossible like steal a book from Talfryn. She lifted up the Celestial Record, making sure the princess’ eyes were on it before setting it down next to her.

“If you don’t climb up after me, I’m never going to give you your stupid book back!” she threatened in a cheerful voice. “It’ll have a nice, cozy home in the branches!”

“You wouldn’t dare!” the princess shouted. Rose nudged the book with her finger, and her grin grew wider like the princess’ eyes did. “A-ah!”

“Look at it this way, if we’re up in the trees, no one would think we’re up here! So we’re still outside, but hiding! Sound good?”

“No!” the princess shouted back. “That’s—what even sort of logic is that?!”

“Smart!”

The princess rolled her eyes instead of answering. She looked back down at the tree after, resolve and determination all over her expression. Rose’s grin turned into a pleased smirk. She’d meant to tease the princess for a bit but got carried away, but maybe this was okay too. Now she was going to get to watch the princess climb up a tree.

Trembling for just a second, the princess carefully wrapped her arms and legs around the tree and, slowly, much slower than Rose had gone, climbed up the tree. Oh! It looked like the princess _did_ know how to climb. She wondered how many other nobles could do that.

Or maybe only the Hyland Princess could do that because she had no one else to play with her, no one to tell her that climbing trees was improper, no one who truly cared for her.

Rose continued to watch the princess, feeling her breath hitch when the princess would suddenly lose her grip, and then breathing a sigh of relief when the princess managed to find it again, still carefully inching upward.

By the time she finally hefted herself up to the branch Rose was sitting on, she was sweating up a storm, red with exertion. Even when tired and panting, she still looked pretty, Rose couldn’t help but think. She quickly looked away, coughing into her hand to compose herself.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Rose teased, grinning at her. The princess huffed, looking down at her hands. And then Rose saw it, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “H-huh?! Are you crying?!” Panic came to Rose as she frantically waved her hands around, trying to see what was making her cry.

“I… it kind of h-hurts, a-and I think I have splinters,” the princess mumbled. Rose tried to reach out but the princess shook her head and turned away. “I-I can get them by myself, i-it’s okay—”

Rose reached out again, taking the princess’ hand into her own, examining it. Her hands were red, and Rose didn’t doubt they weren’t stinging the princess. She looked closer, found the splinters, and began to remove them. The princess yelped first but quickly bit her lips, to keep from crying out. She was trying hard to be brave, but Rose didn’t know why. She already saw the tears, nothing the princess could hide. She was such a crybaby, but Rose wisely kept that comment to herself.

Once Rose was done, she looked over the hands again before nodding, satisfied she’d gotten everything out. The princess gingerly took her hands away, rubbing them in her lap.

“T-thank you,” she mumbled, and Rose looked away, trying to pretend that she hadn’t been holding the princess’ hands, trying hard not to think about how so much softer and dainty they were compared to her own.

They lived in such different worlds, Rose couldn’t help but remember again.

They didn’t say much though Rose guessed that was because the princess was still trying to catch her breath. There was a breeze blowing through, the wind rustling the leaves above them, tickling through the strands of their hair. The sun shone high above them, burning hot, but in the shade and with the wind, it was refreshing, cool. A good sign, Rose liked to think, when the winds were agreeable for once. It was nice, sitting here all the way up here, hidden from sight, just the two of them.

“I’m sorry,” Rose blurted out then.

“… h-huh?” The princess sent her a confused look. “T-the tree? I didn’t mind, it was kind of fun—”

“No! I… I-I mean… your parents,” Rose’s eyes darted to the princess before she quickly looked away, rubbing the back of her neck in both shame and embarrassment. “I made fun of you about your parents, before… before I knew they were…”

“… oh.” The princess exhaled, and Rose almost flinched. “It’s… it’s okay. It’s already been a few years,” the princess finally said, but Rose knew it really wasn’t, because the princess’ voice had been so quiet, like she was trying to make Rose feel better instead. But Rose didn’t know what else to say or do, and stiffly nodded, still rubbing the back of her neck.

Rose had apologized, and she _did_ feel better, but now it was awkward. When she sneaked a peek at the princess, it looked like she was staring ahead, seeing something very far away. Was she thinking about her parents? Maybe Rose shouldn’t have brought it up at all, if it meant that the princess would think sad things.

“How is it, that you can live every day like this?” the princess finally said, breaking the silence between them.

“Hm?” Rose took a moment to process the princess’ question, not expecting something like that at all. She glanced over at the princess with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Like… I mean…” The princess made a face, frustrated, before gesturing out with her arm. Rose looked out in front of them.

It… it seemed like everything was perfectly fine? In one corner of the camp was Eguille standing around with some of the Windriders, all of them with smiles and laughing, most likely some kind of joke Rose didn’t get and wouldn’t understand until she was older. In another part of camp, she could spy Rosh training with some of the veterans, getting knocked on his head every other second. On the side opposite from them, were another group of Windriders, gearing themselves up, either hired for a mission or off hunting. It would depend on what they brought when they came back.

It looked like any other day for the Windriders. She still didn’t understand what the princess was trying to say. Was there something she wasn’t seeing?

“You… you said you’re mercenaries, right?” the princess said slowly. “That means you… you k-kill people. For money.”

“Yeah?”

The princess gasped before shaking her head. “But k-killing people is bad!”

“Really?” Rose moved her arms behind her head, idly swinging her feet. “I mean, I guess, but you know, on a battlefield, they’re trying to kill us too. Do you want us to just stand there and get hurt?”

The princess faltered. “N-no… but I’m sure there’s some other way that doesn’t involve killing.”

“Probably, but that’s just what we do.”

The princess looked at her strangely. “And... you just accept it? You don’t think you could… do anything else?”

Rose brought her arms down, sighing loudly. “Princess, I know what you’re trying to say, but this is everything I know. I don’t remember my parents. They were probably killed? I don’t know. When Brad found me, I was wandering around a battlefield, ready for the vultures to pick me off too.”

“When you’re on the battlefield, you… don’t think much other than trying to survive. Win the war for your country? Glory? I can’t think of things like that. All I want to do is survive, and make sure my friends and comrades survive too. They’re all I know.”

“For a lot of us, this is… just what we do.” Rose met the princess’ eyes, smiling at her. “Killing’s all I’m good for.”

The princess gaped at her. There was something—oh, pity, Rose realized. Well, that was okay. Getting pity from a princess didn’t mean much. She’d probably never be any sort of battles, never have to experience being part of any wars, never need to learn how to lift a weapon to defend herself. She’d never know what it’d feel like to be one second away from death, never know what it’d feel like to live knowing that any day could be her last.

And, for some reasons she didn’t know she had, Rose wanted her to stay like that.

“I… I want to protect people.”

Rose blinked, wondering if she’d heard that right. It’d been a quiet whisper, like the princess herself wasn’t sure. She glanced over at the girl sitting next to her, and decided to respond.

“What’s that? You sound like you want to be a knight.”

“I do.”

The answer came so suddenly, without hesitation that Rose blinked again. Now, she fully turned to face the princess, more than interested in listening. The princess looked more interested in staring down at her lap, nervously twisting her hands.

“I… b-before, um, well… back in Hyland, I was to begin training under Lady Maltran. I want to be a knight, so I can help people, protect them from danger, as should be my duty as their princess. Everyone tells me I’m stupid and silly and ridiculous for _wanting_ to do something, that all I’ll probably do is d-die instead, but…” The princess’ hands trembled, as did her voice, but she continued on. “I still want to try.”

The princess clenched her hands into fists, holding them so tightly that she was shaking. She stared intently at her lap, like she was expecting Rose to make fun of her, to tell her that she was being silly like everyone had told her. Maybe Rose would have, and honestly, Rose had half the mind to tell her so. The princess should have known _exactly_ where she stood with the kingdom of Hyland with this kidnapping. Rose wanted to tell her to face the facts, that she _was_ powerless, that there was nothing she’d ever be able to do if her kingdom refused to acknowledge her, that all the blood she was willing to give to her people would never be repaid.

Rose wanted _so much_ to tell her, tell the princess that all she would accomplish was bringing pain to herself that could’ve been easily avoided, that living the easy life the princess already had was the best thing in this awful and dark world, that there was nothing worth giving to people who probably wouldn’t have even cared for her. For a princess who had such lofty ambitions like her, Rose knew, that for all her words and idealism, she would eventually break instead.

The world was cruel, Rose knew firsthand.

She opened her mouth to speak, but all the terrible words she wanted to say to turn the princess away from the thorny path she wanted to walk on couldn’t come out, like they’d all jammed together at the back of her throat. She… she needed to say something, anything, to stop the princess from acting so foolishly. A princess, as a knight? What a joke! And yet… yet… _yet—_

“If… you become a knight, we might just end up seeing each other on the battlefield,” she finally said.

She heard the princess suck in a breath, clearly not expecting Rose to answer that way. Rose wasn’t sure why she’d said it like that either. Why would the princess care about that? If she became a knight, she was going to live to serve the people of Hyland, and forget that she’d ever had this conversation with someone like Rose, some mangy little mercenary who did nothing but treat her like a spoiled brat. And Rose was perfectly fine with that. They lived in two completely different worlds, in two kingdoms that had always opposed each other, jumping for any opportunity at war to steal precious resources.

“Then… then I… I’ll need to find some way so that won’t ever have to happen,” the princess said. Rose blinked, surprised. “I don’t want there to be any more wars. I want there to be peace between our kingdoms, so all the fighting can stop. And then we won’t have to see each other on the battlefield! I want to stop all the bad things in the world so everyone can be happy and smile!”

The princess’s voice was still quiet, soft, but no less fervent than when she talked about her precious ruins in the Celestial Record. She… she really _did_ mean all of that, Rose was beginning to realize.

How ridiculous! Did the princess really think that she could do all _that_? By _herself_? She must’ve been reading one too many fairy tales, to think she had the power and strength to do all she was thinking of doing. Peace between Hyland and Rolance? No more wars? No more fighting? Whatever cloud the princess was floating on, Rose wanted to jump on that too, so she could believe in such things like… like… like ridding the world of evil. That’s certainly what the princess sounded like she wanted to do at this point. What an even bigger joke!

And yet, when she looked at the princess, green eyes shining with such _hope_ and _optimism,_ Rose found she couldn’t look away at all, found herself _wanting_ to believe in the words the princess spoke even if she knew that was a close to impossible dream.

The princess… was stronger than she seemed, much more than Rose had initially given her credit for.

Rose could only hope that the princess’ own conviction wouldn’t break her instead.

She took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly through her mouth. With that breath, Rose felt herself feeling light.

“Well,” Rose started, “if you can do all that, then it looks like I’ll just go and be the boss of the Windriders then!”

“ _You_?” A snort tore so quickly out of the princess that Rose narrowed her eyes, offended.

“Of course!” Rose looked at the princess out of the corner of her eye, smirking. “So if you mess up, I can be the first one there to fight you.”

“Oh!” The princess huffed at her, a scowl on her pretty face. “You’re so mean! Why would you do that?!”

“Because I can! And then I’m gonna go to your aqua… aqua… uh, Ladylake, and pull out that sword and become the Shepherd!”

“Shepherd!” The princess squealed and hid her face behind her hands, body shaking with laughter.

“Think I can’t do it, Princess?”

“When I imagine the Shepherd, I think of someone…” The princess slowly removed her hands from her face. The way she looked Rose up and down told her more than enough, especially when her lips pushed together in an obvious attempt to hold back her laughter again.

“Hey!” Rose said in mock anger. “That’s no way to talk to the future Shepherd!”

“Don’t speak so lightly of the Shepherd!”

“Says who?”

“Me!”

The princess glared at her, or at least she tried to. Her eyebrows knit together, nose scrunching up, and Rose thought she looked more like she’d just eaten some sour. It made her laugh instead, reaching over to poke the princess on the nose.

“A-ah!” The princess’ eyes went wide, as big as they could have gone, and Rose would’ve laughed again, but the expression quickly disappeared, and now the princess was _determined._ For what, Rose was about to find out in just a few seconds, as she reached out.

Rose dodged the finger going for her own nose. The princess’ eyes narrowed even more and she shifted fully to face Rose, hugging the branch with both of her legs. Indecent, Rose wanted to tease, what with the princess wearing a skirt like the one she had, but the princess grabbed her arm right at the moment, an obvious attempt to try to get Rose to stop moving.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Rose cried out, wiggling all over as she tried to avoid the princess’ other hand. The princess had come close a few times but still, she couldn’t return the favor. Rose’s grin grew even smugger, and she knew it only spurred the princess on even more. Good, the princess looked much better when she had that fire in her eyes, even for something as silly as this. _Now_ this was a challenge, and Rose wasn’t willing to back down—

_Crack!_

They both froze, blinking at each other, taking a moment too long to process what the sound could even be when the branch underneath them suddenly gave way.

The princess cried out and Rose reacted instinctively, reaching to grab her as they fell. Enemy princess or not, she was _still_ a princess, and Rose wasn’t going to let her _break_ something.

They were in the air, the ground quickly rushing to meet them. Rose braced for impact, praying for only a minor sprain at the very least.

A powerful gust of wind blew at that moment, pushing against them, slowing their descent. The both of them gasped, staring at each other in amazement. It felt like they were floating in the air, as they were glided down to the ground—

The wind disappeared, and Rose crashed to the ground with a painful thud, the princess landing on top of her.

Rose didn’t even have the strength to mutter an “ow,” groaning miserably from where she laid on the ground. The princess was stunned but quickly scrambled off of Rose, apologies and panicked words flying from her mouth.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?! Did you break anything?! D-do I have to get a d-doctor? U-um, o-okay, I think I have t-to check the heartbeat—”

“I’m not dead,” Rose quickly managed to get out, groaning in pain afterward.

“… oh. Right.” The princess had the grace to sound embarrassed, and Rose was still in pain. “Um…”

Rose felt hands on her head, and through the haze of pain, she felt confusion. What was the princess even doing? Rose wasn’t sure, and she had the feeling that the princess was going to do something like accidentally kill her—

Rose blinked, and realized she was staring _up_ at the princess, her head under something soft. Oh. The princess put her in her lap. Okay. Rose wasn’t sure why, but it was a nice soft pillow—

_The princess put her in her lap._

If Rose hadn’t still been reeling from pain, she would’ve leaped right up and screamed at the princess. Screamed what, Rose didn’t know. Probably just screamed. That sounded nice right now.

The lap underneath Rose’s head was soft, _comfortable_. The princess had a hand on top of Rose’s head, placed there initially to hold her steady in her lap, but now it was just _there_ , like she didn’t know what to do with it. Rose didn’t know where the princess’ other hand was, other than that she knew it at least wasn’t _touching_ her.

Rose hoped the princess wasn’t looking at her right now. She knew she was blushing something fierce, because _seriously,_ what was this even supposed to be? Why did the princess go and do something like _this,_ what was the princess even _thinking_ at this point, why was the princess so—

A finger poked her nose, and Rose glanced up to see the princess smiling cheekily at her. “Got it.”

“… unfair, Princess, taking advantage of the wounded,” Rose said, sticking her tongue out. “What would they think of you, playing dirty?” The princess laughed, and tweaked her nose again. Feeling kind of better, Rose took the opportunity to pull herself up. She winced at all the aches and sores in her back, knew she would feel them even more once she got up and started to move around, but at least it didn’t seem like anything was broken.

“Ah!” The princess gasped and leaned over toward her. Rose stiffened, eyes wide as she tried not to panic. What was the princess going to do _now—_

The princess moved past her and grabbed the forgotten Celestial Record off the ground, hugging it to her chest. “There!” she said, smiling fondly at it. Rose let out the breath she held, exasperated now.

“You really do like that book, don’t you, Princess?” Rose didn’t think she’d ever understand it, the princess’ love for that book.

“Yes…” she answered. She blinked though, and looked up at Rose, an odd expression on her face. “Princess...“ she murmured, closing her eyes for a quick moment before opening them. She met Rose’s gaze again, green staring into blue. “Please, my name… Alisha.”

“… eh?” Rose blinked.

“My name,” the princess said again, shyly looking away now. “I… I don’t want to be called a princess all the time. Please, p-please use my name instead.”

“Your name,” Rose repeated dumbly, mind still more than a little slow at processing the princess’ request.

“Yes.”

“Your… your name,” Rose said again. The princess’ cheeks burned bright red, but she slowly nodded, looking at Rose expectantly.

Rose swallowed, wondering what was even happening anymore. There was an awkward mood between them, and she wasn’t sure what to do. She scratched the back of her neck, nervous. The princess… her name… w-well, if that was what she wanted, then… t-then—

Why did this even _feel_ awkward, it was only a name!

Taking a deep breath, Rose called out for the princess for the first time. “A-Alisha.”

The princess nodded slowly, the corners of her lips twitching. “I… I said that right?” Rose mumbled, hand still on her neck as she glanced away.

“Yes.”

“Oh. Um… Alisha,” she tried again.

For the first time since they’d met each other, Alisha finally _smiled,_ face so full of sheer happiness at hearing her name called.

Rose swore her heart was ready to beat straight out of her body, with how fast it was going. The p-princess— no, wait, _A-Alisha—_ she… she was…

It was completely unfair that for an enemy princess, she had to be so damned nice, Rose thought.

“—ur’s, if I may.”

“What?” Rose blinked rapidly, staring at Alisha when she realized she didn’t hear the first half of her sentence.

“Um… your name. You… never told me yours, after all this time.”

“Really?” Rose frowned at her. “You didn’t get it from Eguille yelling at me all the time?”

“O-oh!” Alisha’s cheeks went red. “I-I mean, we weren’t _formally_ introduced! _You_ never told me your name!”

“… _of course_ a princess would be so nitpicky,” Rose muttered, and Alisha’s face went even more red. Rose didn’t know why her _own_ face was going red at the sight too, but she quickly sighed, rubbing the back of her head before shaking the embarrassment out of her. She grinned, pointing at herself. “Rose!”

Alisha looked up at her, and, with the shyest voice possible, uttered her name. “R-Rose.”

This was, the best—no, worst thing—no, _awful_ —wait, the most _ridiculous_ thing Rose wanted to say she’d ever felt her heart pounding so hard for. It was _just_ a name, _nothing_ for Rose to get excited about.

“Rose,” Alisha said again, and Rose felt a muffled scream coming from within herself.

Oh, this was getting even more silly now. To think that someone like _Rose_ could be reduced to a terrible mess of… _something_ just from having her name called. Ugh, what was even happening to her? Nothing good, ever since the princess came.

Alisha opened her mouth, to say her name again, and Rose quickly shushed her by speaking up first. “Yeah, you’ve got my name, don’t forget it.”

Alisha blinked at her before quickly nodding. “O-of course! I won’t!” she quickly assured, so much earnestness in her tone.

Rose felt a pang shoot through her and never had she felt a stronger urge to scream until now. It was _totally_ unfair, that the princess was cute, in all senses of the word.

And then Alisha smiled, all bashful and shy, and Rose tried desperately to make up even more excuses for herself. But Rose smiled back, and the princess’ smile blossomed into a confident and happy expression, and Rose knew she was falling even faster.

But Alisha’s expression turned somber, serious. “All those things I said earlier… I know it’ll be hard for me. That no matter how hard it gets, I can’t just give up so easily. But I… I want to do all of this. As a princess, and a future knight, it is my duty to serve the people.”

And that was when Rose remembered that they were supposed to be enemies, that the princess was here because the Windriders kidnapped her, that the _only_ reason the Windriders had taken her was because she was the princess of Hyland, and Rose a lowly mercenary. That it was only sheer coincidence that their worlds managed to cross, for just this brief moment in their young lives. That Rose, as a mercenary, would probably have a higher chance of dying before Alisha could even do any sort of _real_ change.

Not that Rose was interested in dying, but the possibility was there, and Rose liked to think she was pragmatic enough to recognize even this.

It was a sobering thing to realize.

But still, Rose… Rose wanted…

“I guess I’ll just have you watch you then, won’t I?” The words slipped out of Rose before she could even think of what she was saying. She paused, realizing exactly what she’d said, but shrugged afterward. It seemed just like her to say something like that.

“I… you… I-I mean, _how_?” Alisha asked in sheer disbelief, not that Rose could blame her.

“Well, if I hear you doing good or making some sort of changes, I’ll hear it all the way out from Rolance, don’t you think?”

“I… I guess?” The princess still looked unconvinced.

“Don’t worry! It’ll work out!” Rose said with a grin, even adding in a little wink. “Catch me up in your rafters, watching you sleep.”

Alisha’s expression changed into horror, and Rose guffawed, snorting loudly.

“Please… please don’t do that,” Alisha finally said, “even if you could.”

“I mean, I’ve been watching you here all the time anyway, what difference does it make if I watch you sleep in a bed? Maybe you’ll drool all over the pillows and blankets instead.”

“R-Rose!” Alisha cried out, trying to sound disapproving but she slapped her hands over her face, and Rose could see the princess’ cheeks reddening. It made her laugh again.

They both calmed down afterward, enjoying the comfortable silence between them. To think, just a few weeks before, the princess was glaring at Rose and refusing to even talk to her.

“So, think you can _really_ do it, Prin—Alisha? Stop all the fighting by yourself? You can’t just tell me all of that and then back out.”

“I… I think so,” Alisha mumbled before she shook her head, determination shining in her eyes. “No… I _have_ to do it.”

Bold words, Rose wanted to say. _Extremely_ bold words, especially from a princess who hadn’t even started her training as a knight yet. But it was her optimism now that let her say that, she thought.

“And then… when our kingdoms are finally at peace…” Alisha glanced down at the Celestial Record in her arms, all her dreams and wishes spread all over her face. “I want to explore all the ruins one day!”

With the princess smiling so brightly, with all the innocence in the world, Rose let herself hope that Alisha would be able to get her wish one day.

* * *

She came upon them in the dead of the night.

Rose startled awake at the first scream, hands already on her dagger. When there were more screams and shouting, she could hear Alisha stirring awake too.

She scrambled over to Alisha, putting a hand over her mouth to stop her from speaking. “Alright, you’ve gotta listen to me. When you get out of this door, run toward the right, and keep heading straight until you see the tent that looks bigger than everyone else. Kind of has this bent flag in front of it, because I accidentally broke it. That’s Brad’s tent. He’s the strongest out of all of us, so he’ll protect you. Got it?”

Alisha was trying to speak but Rose gave her a shake, staring hard at her. Alisha _needed_ to understand this. “You’re a princess, you can’t just go and die here with us sorry folk,” Rose said with a light smile, and Alisha stopped moving, staring up at Rose. There was a shine in her eyes, and Rose had to look away, before she got taken in.

“Don’t worry,” Rose said, grinning widely now. “I don’t have any intentions of dying here either. Now, we’ve gotta go, _right now!_ ”

Rose pulled Alisha up and barreled out the door. She pushed Alisha in the opposite direction, gesturing. “Just keep running straight down that way. I’ll see you later!”

Before she could even hear a peep from Alisha, Rose ran off.

She followed the direction of the screams even if her instincts were telling her otherwise. The Windriders were the strongest in the continent, and even if their comrades were getting slain, all the others would get revenge for them.

How prideful they were, to think that they were the strongest out of _everyone_ , Rose would soon learn.

There, in the middle of all the bodies (and there were _already so many),_ was _her._ She wore the armor of the Hyland Knights but with the ferocious way she fought, Rose could have sworn that she was a monster with the face of a human. Every move she did was calculated but with such brutality that even Rose could feel the bile creeping up as she watched the knight slaughter her fellow mercenaries. She had lived and grew up on battlefields, and what this knight was doing was exactly like all the death and destruction Rose thought she had left behind.

Was this a battlefield?

No, this was a _massacre._

Rose could only watch with horror as her fellow mercenaries howled, in pain for those cut down, in anger for those that were _yet_ to be cut down. A large group finally surrounded the knight, advancing at the same time, and Rose _knew_ that it wouldn’t have made a difference. She watched them charge forward, blinked, and then they were all gone, writhing on the ground in the throes of death.

Soon, the only one even _standing_ was Rose, and the _monster_ had set its sights on her, marching toward her. The spear that had cut down so many her friends shined bright in the moonlight, slick with blood. Rose felt the anger bubbling underneath, craving revenge for her fallen comrades, but her feet were rooted to the ground.

 _Go and join your comrades, avenge their deaths!_ her mind shouted.

 _Run far away and never look back_ , the other part of her mind shouted.

And she could do _neither_ of those things, eyes slowly turning up to face her soon-to-be killer. The eyes on the knight… Rose was sure that she didn’t even register as a _person_ in them. The thought would have made Rose mad, but terror surged through her instead.

In all her years of life on the battlefield, all the times when she’d almost been killed, all those times where she saw the look on her enemy before she killed, all of it couldn’t compare to the disregard shown before her.

There was so much blood on the knight that the blue of the Hyland uniform was nearly unrecognizable. The knight’s face was calm but Rose wasn’t fooled one bit. She could _feel_ the sheer bloodlust radiating off this woman, off this _monster_. Who even was she, to hide such bloodthirsty intent behind a terrifying mask of calmness?

No, Rose already knew, remembering the hushed whispers when the princess had first been brought in.

The Blue Valkyrie had come.

Rose could do nothing but continue to stare up at the knight, even as the spear was raised above her head. Was she even someone in this woman’s eyes? She’d never know, nor would she live to find out.

The spear fell, and Rose shut her eyes tightly.

“No!”

Rose flew backward instead, an unknown force blowing her back. She rolled along the ground before finally stopping. Body scratched up, Rose weakly opened her eyes just as something fell on top of her.

Alisha was there, and Rose snapped her eyes wide open, trying to make sense of everything now. Alisha had her arms around Rose, her own eyes wide with fear, and _still_ the knight was advancing. Rose wanted to push Alisha away, tell her to run, to get away from this madwoman—no, get away from this _monster_ of a human, but her fear completely paralyzed her. She could do nothing but watch as Alisha try to shield her.

“Alisha, there you are,” the knight said in a flat voice, like she’d been looking for a lost dog instead of a stolen princess. She took the spear away, and Rose could breathe just a little easier, but not really. The woman’s sheer presence had rendered Rose incapable of action. “I was searching all over for you.”

“L-Lady Maltran!” Alisha, so starved for attention and anything resembling affection, sounded _so_ hopeful. “W-were you?”

“Yes, of course, I was,” Maltran answered easily. “Now, come to my side. We’ll be leaving once I deal with everyone.”

“Deal with everyone? You—you mean, _k-kill_ them?” Alisha stuttered like she was uttering blasphemy. Rose willed herself to move hearing those words but her body still refused to obey.

Maltran nodded curtly. “Yes, that’s exactly what I meant.” She waved for Alisha again. “Now, come. The faster you stay safe by my side, the faster we can get back home to Hyland.”

“W-wait! But… b-but why?! I’m h-here! You don’t need to go and… and kill anyone else! P-please, let’s just go!”

“Let these brigands live?” Maltran narrowed her eyes and even if she wasn’t looking directly at Rose, it still made her shudder in terror. “Do you understand what you’re asking, Princess?”

“They… they aren’t bad people!”

“They’ve kidnapped you, taken you captive for months, threaten the people of Hyland, and you ask me to _spare_ their lives?” Rose felt her blood chilling even more. Maltran sounded so angry, but she was so calm at the same time, like she was waiting for a moment to strike. “Princess, do you understand precisely what you’re asking?”

“They… I…” Alisha faltered, and Maltran took that moment to strike.

“Princess, you weren’t even the one they wanted to kidnap. And once they discovered your worth, they were going to toss you aside. You wish to tell me you want to protect these people? They’ll kidnap one of your brothers or sisters instead! Would you wish for the same fate you suffered upon them?”

“I… I’m…” Alisha began to tremble under the onslaught. Rose wanted to reach out, to take Alisha’s arm, to tell her that she meant so much more, but she swore Maltran looked over toward her at the same time and Rose tensed up once more.

Maltran looked back at Alisha, softening her expression as she held out her hand. “I apologize for the harsh words, I’m only mad at myself that it took me so long to come.”

Alisha shook her head, eyes shining up at her master. “N-no, just… j-just the fact that you came to rescue me, it… I—”

“Rose!”

A voice boomed out from behind them and before Rose knew it, Brad was leaping in front of her, daggers already striking. Maltran quickly stepped away to dodge his blows before coming back to meet him. The soft look on her face had disappeared completely, and now she looked like a demon once more.

Rose wanted to scream. Brad was the strongest person she knew, but against this _monster_ that cut everyone else down… he…

But Brad was different too. There was a fury Rose had never known to him, his fighting more aggressive than normal, aiming to kill completely in one blow. Rose had only seen him truly angry just a few times, all of it involving her and when she’d been in danger.

“Rose! Get the princess and run away!” he bellowed over his shoulder. The split second of distraction made Maltran swing her spear out and had he not dodged at the very last moment, Rose knew his neck would’ve been taken clean off.

Rose’s chest felt tight, like guilt squeezing down on her. She needed to do something _now_. This knight wasn’t any ordinary _human_. Rose stared at her, trying to watch her movements, trying to watch for _any_ sort of weakness, but her strikes were inhumanly quick that even Rose’s trained eyes couldn’t catch anything.

 _Move,_ Rose screamed, reaching forward. Her hands rattled with fear, gripping her legs as she screamed at herself to move again. _You, you need to save him, you just… you need to **go**_ —

“Stop!”

In the end, Rose couldn’t even move. It was _Alisha_ who rushed forward, racing toward the middle of that chaos, right into death itself—

New fear surged through Rose again and she lurched forward, slamming her hands on the ground to steady herself. She tried to scramble to her feet but her legs still refused to listen and all she could do was reach out with her tiny hand, as if she could somehow stretch forward and grab the back of the princess back.

Brad thrust his dagger out just as Maltran brought her spear down—

“Stop!”

The princess screamed again and, against every logic in the world, with all the miracles and blessings Maotelus could give them, the both of them froze. They stared down at her, at the princess who was foolish enough to interrupt a clash between killers.

“That’s… t-that’s enough,” Alisha cried out, choking back a sob. “M-Master, _p-please_ , I… no more… I don’t… want you to kill anyone…” Tears dripped down Alisha’s face. Rose wondered if they would even work on someone like Maltran.

“… very well.” Maltran stepped back, and Brad did as well. Maltran held out her hand, and Alisha quickly took it, like she thought holding her hand would stop Maltran from committing anymore violence. Maybe that was what did the trick, because the harsh expression disappeared from Maltran’s face.

 _Oh,_ Rose thought, _so even someone like her could show something other than bloodlust._

But she still killed, Rose would never forget.

Knight and princess began to walk away. Rose was still frozen where she was, eyes trained on their backs, even as Brad bent down next to her, a hand on her shoulder. She could barely even see them through the moonlight, but she thought she saw Alisha turn around for one second, to look at her, and then disappear into the dark of the night.

And just like that, Alisha was gone.

By the time the sun began to rise, the Windriders were already beginning the funeral pyres. Surprisingly, despite what Rose had seen, there weren’t many casualties, but many of them wouldn’t be able to recover for months, their wounds deep, like Maltran had wanted them to suffer instead. Nothing was worse to a working mercenary than being put out of commission instead of dying in the heat of battle. Maybe that was her way of getting revenge instead of killing them all like she could have done.

“The Blue Valkyrie didn’t even look a day old from when I last saw her,” she remembered one of the older, lucky ones speaking in hushed tones. “She’s still just as dangerous as ever… we’re all lucky she didn’t kill us.”

Brad hadn’t said anything to them, but he stopped once to see, bending down to ruffle her hair like he always did. “Stop looking so lonely,” he told her, and Rose scowled at him.

It was only another day in the life of the Windriders, who lived from battle to battle.

Days after the princess left, Rose finally went back to their room. All of the Windriders were packing, their base compromised. Somehow, Rose got the feeling that Alisha, and Maltran too, wouldn’t have told Hyland where the Windriders were, but even if she was Brad’s kid, she was only one kid trusting what her gut told her.

Rose stepped into the room, looking all over. Blankets were strewn across the floor where they’d tossed it off during the attack. There wasn’t much to salvage—

Her eyes caught on the all too familiar book, giant gold symbol emblazoned across the cover, innocently lying next to where the princess sat. Rose often joked that Alisha would have used it as a pillow if it was softer and the princess could stick her tongue out but never deny it. She walked over to it and sat down, lifting it into her lap.

She opened the book, looking through the pages but eyes glazing over as she remembered its owner instead, how happy Alisha had been when talking about everything in the pages, how she seemed so genuine and passionate about wanting to do good for the citizens of her kingdom.

It’d been only just a few days, but Rose felt like she was already gone for years.

Would they ever see each other again?

Rose looked back down at the book. What was she going to do with it? Maybe throw it away. She didn’t have use for it, and she doubted anyone else wanted this copy. No one believed in the seraphim, and no one had time to think about things like exploring ruins, not in their line of work.

She sat in the room for a long time, thumbing through the pages. Outside, the wind whipped all around, angry, as it had been for the past few days, like it was mourning the loss of the Windriders as well. The wind always seemed to do that whenever the whole camp felt solemn. She closed her eyes, listening to howl of the wind, her fingers tracing over the waterwheel on the page she was on.

When she heard Brad calling for her, Rose slammed the book shut, stood up, and walked out of the room, book still clutched tightly in her hands.

* * *

 

 

 

 

There were much better things for Rose to do right now.

There were _much_ better things for Rose to do right now than listen to this man in front of her prattle on in mock righteousness.

She _knew_ he was lying straight through his teeth, but she let him continue on with all his lies. There was no point breaking the ruse here, not when there wasn’t anything to gain. As leader, Rose had more important things to think about.

She used to dream of this moment, when the wound was still fresh. Now, it had dulled into a fancy, something she only let herself think in fleeting moments of weakness, when she wanted to think about what-ifs.

“She’s trying to sacrifice the common folk in the name of her ideals,” she heard, and there it was, the one truth in the web of lies she’d been told. She turned around, her voice impressively steady as she delivered her declaration.

“How naïve,” she said, silently lamenting what she hoped would have changed throughout the years. “Councilor Bartlow, we, the Scattered Bones, accept your request to assassinate Princess Alisha Diphda.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is, for all intents and purposes, finished, but I'm half-inspired to do a second chapter


End file.
